One of my favorite movies is “Big Trouble in Little China”. It’s probably the best horrible movie in existence. The lead character is Jack Burton; a truck-driving, tank-top wearing, long-haired wiseacre with charisma and a few loose screws. You know…the normal hero for the eighties/nineties. In the opening credits of the ‘film’, Jack spouts off a series of one-liners from his CB, while truckin’ in the storm. One of those odes to writing is this:
“…just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and he says, ‘Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.’”
The bravado! The gusto! Jack Burton is unflappable. Well, until faced with an eight-foot lightning-throwing demi-god, but then I think we can all agree that it’s time to run. Jack has this confident stride and smooth talk that he exudes throughout the movie, yet you get glimpses of what’s underneath during the real moments.
I think we’re all like this. We don’t want to show the world our insecurities or our faults—we’d rather pretend that ‘we can take it’ and keep moving, unscathed. God forbid we have weak moments; heaven help us if we just need to sit down and take a breather! Because we don’t want to project our problems onto anyone else. We’d rather post the best pictures of our lives on Facebook than tell the whole story of what happens in between those photos—the grief, the hardship, the stress. As long as we show the world a smiling face, everyone will think of us as worthy leaders, teachers, accountants, doctors, etc… So what can you do?
But the truth is far more complex than that. Because we are broken, each of us in our own way. Some have less resiliency than others, some have more acute stressors. Some struggle with depression while others fight the battle of alcoholism. Some hold deep insecurities. Some hold fear of failure. Some just feel alone. In this world, sometimes we can’t ‘take it’ all. We need help. We need people to hold us up without fear of reprisal or judgment. Sometimes we just need someone to say, “You know what? You don’t have to pretend that everything is okay when it isn’t. I’m here for you and I’ll listen.” That’s what Jesus wants for us. Jesus wants us to love one another and be able to lean upon our friends and fellow travelers during the storm. Because more likely than naught, our friends and fellows are struggling with something, too.
That makes community life all the more important. Real community doesn’t care about who you are in the world or what title you hold. Real community only cares about you—the real you, the one that is fallible, bumbling, joyful, sad, wicked-smart, insecure, savvy…all the things that you are at one point or another. Real community cares for those things because that’s the Imago Dei—the image that God has for us. To be together. To be real. To not let the little things divide us or drive us away, but instead to allow for the valleys to be walked through together and not alone.
What can you do? I think that needs to change into, “What can ‘we’ do?” instead.
We are so much better when united. SO much more loving when tragedy strikes, allowing all the ‘stuff’ to simply fade into the background as we pick each other up and move through tragedy and turmoil. I encourage each of you to remember this. The effects of Covid are far from over—we will begin to see the aftermath soon. I want you to know that you’re not alone, and that you have a community that will stand with you so that your, “I can take it” turns into “My friends and I can take it, with God’s help.”
That’s what we can do. And we can do it, together.
Faithfully,
Fr. Sean+